Ladji Doucouré (born 28 March 1983 in Juvisy-sur-Orge

Juvisy-sur-Orge

Juvisy-sur-Orge is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France.Inhabitants of Juvisy-sur-Orge are known as Juvisiens.-Geography:Neighboring communes:* Athis-Mons* Draveil* Savigny-sur-Orge* Viry-Châtillon...

, Essonne

Essonne

Essonne is a French department in the region of Île-de-France. It is named after the Essonne River.It was formed on 1 January 1968 when Seine-et-Oise was split into smaller departments.- History :...

) is a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 athlete of Mali

Mali

Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...

an and Senegal

Senegal

Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...

ese descent. He was a football player and decathlete

Decathlon

The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word decathlon is of Greek origin . Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not...

 before specializing in hurdling

Hurdling

Hurdling is a type of track and field race.- Distances :There are sprint hurdle races and long hurdle races. The standard sprint hurdle race is 110 meters for men and 100 meters for women. The standard long hurdle race is 400 meters for both men and women...

.

Career

He competed in the 110 m hurdles

Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Men's 110 metres Hurdles

-Qualification:The qualification period for Athletics was 1 January 2003 to 9 August 2004. For the men's 110 metres hurdles, each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had run the race in 13.55 seconds or faster during the qualification period...

 at the 2004 Summer Olympics

2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

, and finished eighth in the final with a result of 13.76 s (he fell just before the finish line). Doucouré won the gold medal at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics

2005 World Championships in Athletics

The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland , the site of the first IAAF World Championships in 1983. One theme of the 2005 championships was paralympic sports, some of...

, beating Liu Xiang

Liu Xiang

Liu Xiang is a Chinese 110 meter hurdler. Liu is an Olympic Gold medalist and World Champion. His 2004 Olympic gold medal was the first in a men's track and field event for China....

 and veteran Allen Johnson

Allen Johnson

Allen Kenneth Johnson is a retired hurdling athlete and won Olympic Gold in the 110 metre high hurdles at the 1996 games in Atlanta, Georgia....

. He (together with Ronald Pognon

Ronald Pognon

Ronald Pognon is a French sprint athlete. He originally specialized in the 200 metres, but later shifted to the shorter sprint distances...

, Eddy De Lépine

Eddy De Lépine

Eddy De Lépine is a French sprinter. Together with Ladji Doucouré, Ronald Pognon, and Lueyi Dovy, he won a gold medal in 4 x 100 metres relay at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics....

 and Lueyi Dovy

Lueyi Dovy

Lueyi Dovy is a French sprinter of Gabonese descent. Together with Ladji Doucouré, Ronald Pognon and Eddy De Lépine he won a gold medal in 4 x 100 metres relay at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics.-External links:...

) won another gold medal (in the 4×100 metres relay).

In August 2005 he lowered his personal best to 12.97 s, setting a national record; it was the world's best performance that year.
In 110 m hurdles at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, Doucouré clocked 13.07 s to finish just one hundredth of a second ahead of China's Liu Xiang, with defending champion Allen Johnson of the United States taking the bronze.

He finished fourth in the final of the 110 m hurdles at the 2008 Summer Olympics

2008 Summer Olympics

The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...

 in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

. The following season he started strongly, winning the 60 m hurdles gold medal at the 2009 European Indoor Championships.